


Time Waits For No One

by chaotically_cas



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: F/F, Tw derealization, tw cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29212107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaotically_cas/pseuds/chaotically_cas
Summary: Cherry just stared down at the two pills in front of her.“You chose.”
Relationships: Sylvia/Sherri "Cherry" Valance
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Gay matrix au

Cherry dove behind a dumpster, staying as still as she could while she heard the pitter patter of feet as they passed. Searching for her. 

As soon as they passed she let out a shallow breath that she wasn’t aware she was holding in, easing a bit of her anxiety as she had once again not been caught. 

It was her sixth day on the run. In loops of time and sleep that felt like weeks. Strange men in black suits and dark glasses around what felt like every corner. 

She didn’t think at the age of just twenty three she would be so far away from home. Away from herself.   
It felt like just yesterday, and years ago at the same time, that she was settled down to dinner with her fiancé, Bob. 

It was funny. She didn’t even miss him. Not one bit. It didn’t help that her mind was always torn from thoughts of him every time she saw the mysterious men, watching her from down the block. Through coffee shop windows. Down alleyways. 

She was yet again ripped away from her thoughts as she felt a delicate hand on her shoulder. 

“I’ll give you to the count of three” Cherry warned, hand on her knife that was tucked away, not yet turning to face the person whose hand it belonged to. 

“Relax ginge” she heard a gentle but rasp voice whisper from behind “I thought you could you a little saving.” 

“Saving?” Cherry laughed at a whisper, finally turning around to meet the girls gaze. 

She was kneeling down only inches away from Cherry’s. Her box braids hung loosely around her face, casting more shadows along with the alleys dim lights on her perfectly sculpted face, eye dark brown eyes looking like pools of chocolate hunny. A light scar traced over her eyebrow and onto her cheek bone. She was by far the most beautiful girl Cherry had ever seen. It nearly knocked the breath out of her. 

“One” Cherry practically growled, not letting the girls beauty discourage her from protecting herself “two.”

The girl just laughed and pulled her hand away, but instead of retreating it, she offered it to Cherry. 

“Sylvia. Sylvia Pérez” the girl smiled, her hand still extended in between the two of them. 

“And why should I tell you mine?” Cherry warned, not looking down from Sylvia’s eyes. 

“You don’t have to, Cherry Valance” the girl smirked, tucking her hand away. 

“How the hell do you know my name?!” Cherry snapped, once again resting her hand on her switchblade. 

“Come with me and you’ll find out” Sylvia smirked, slowly rising and making her way down the dimly lit alleyway, not looking back to see if Cherry had followed.

“Oh well screw this” Cherry whispers to herself, standing up and quickly jogging after the strange girl. 

Sylvia must have heard her small footsteps because she turned back with a smile “good.”

The two ducked between the alleys and through the shallows of abandoned buildings. The city seemed like a ghost town. Like a war was among them. But nowhere to be seen. It felt surreal. 

“We’re here” Sylvia hummed with a smile, extending her hand once again and motioning towards a small hidden doorway and gesturing to Cherry inside.   
Cherry obeyed and looked around the small dust covered room. 

“What is this place?” Cherry asked, turning to see Sylvia leaning in the door frame. 

“Base” Sylvia shrugged simply “on the fake world.”

“Fake world?” Cherry laughed, raising an eyebrow at the girl. She was absolutely bonkers, thought Cherry. 

“You’ve surely noticed it. You’ve had too. That’s how come you’ve been hiding everywhere you go, Cherry” Sylvia explained delicately. 

“How the hell do you know my name” Cherry pressed, a bit of fear rising into the pit of her stomach. 

“We’ve been watching you” Sylvia replied simply, tracing her finger across a dirty wooden desk “I’ve been sent to get you.”

“Get me? Watching me? Who the hell are you?!” Cherry whisper yelled, growing more fearsome every second her questions went unanswered. 

“Relax ging-“

“Cherry.”

“Relax, Cherry. Now look at me and tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about” Sylvia hummed, still mystically roaming around the room. 

Cherry thought for a second. She knew exactly what Sylvia was talking about. She saw the men. Hell, she was beginning to question if the whole thing was fake or not too. 

“Who are you?” Cherry instead asked again, unsure of how to comprehend what she was thinking and hearing. 

“I told you. Now you gotta tell me, Cherry. You know about the matrix, or not?” Sylvia spoke straight up, piercing into Cherry’s green eyes. 

“I know about the men in the suits” Cherry sighed, sitting in an old wooden chair, creaking underneath her. 

“The agents.”

“Agents?”

“The ones trying to keep the matrix covered up. They don’t want us awake” Sylvia explained, sitting across from Cherry, reaching into her jacket “now listen up.”

“Awake?” 

“Listen.”

Cherry’s mind was racing. Over a hundred thoughts cycling through at once. But she stayed silent. She just nodded. 

Sylvia returned the nod and pulled her hand out of her pocket, setting a single blue pill on the table. 

“You got a choice to make Cherry. Two pills. This pill” Sylvia motioned towards the blue pill on the table “this pill will make ya forget. Make ya unsee all the shadow men. All the glitches. Everything. You’ll be back to how you were before you knew about any of this.”

Cherry looked at the pill. She almost grabbed it that damn second but Sylvia reached another hand into her pocket, this time pulling out a single red pill. Practically identical to the blue one now sitting next to it. 

“But this, this pill will set you free” Sylvia continued “it’ll wake you up. With me. With the rest of the resistance. With the matrix.”

Cherry just stared down at the two pills in front of her. 

“You chose.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw for descriptions of injury & cursing

“You chose.”

The two single words echoed inside of Cherry’s head as she desperately gasped for air. Her whole entire body felt like it was on an icy cold fire, shooting up from being submerged. 

Almost instantly, she felt the sharp but dulling pain that rang out from multiple intrusions on her body. She tried her hardest to scream but instead felt the stabbing probe or something metal deep inside her head, or possibly her neck, the pain was too intense for her to find out where exactly it was stemming from. Her lungs felt as if they were going to burst from the pressure. 

And just as quickly as she was awoken, she drifted back into the liquid with a breathy gasp of pain, letting the goo yet again cover her as she went back into the deep and dark abyss. 

“It’s been a month, Sylvia.”

“Shut your damn mouth Curly I know exactly how long it’s been. You mean to tell me you thought miss bombshell would wake up any sooner? This isn’t a mid day nap we’re talking about. This is the matrix, Shepard.”

Cherry had recognized the second voice instantly. 

“Exactly Slyv. You remember how long it took Pony to wake up?”

“Don’t bring me into this.”

“Yeah, don’t bring him into this.”

Cherry flinched her finger but only slightly. She didn’t recognize any of the other three voices. Only Sylvia’s. And it was scaring her half to death, that was if she didn’t already think she was dead. 

The pain in the back of her skull was still as ever present as it was when she was, wherever she was, but now it hurt less. It felt more of a throbbing sensation than a knife digging in, which in a way she became thankful for. But she still couldn’t move or speak yet, it was like she was completely numb. Paralyzed. 

“Ok, ok fine. I’m just saying. Get off my back, alright? If any of you knew a damn thing about running the resistance then maybe you’d be the one talking right now.”

“Tim was just as good as you.”

“Yeah? And where is he now Curly? Cause I sure as hell don’t see him around here picking up any of the slack.”

“Sylvia that was uncalled for-”

“Was it? Cause it seems to me like I’m the only one getting my authority questioned here.”

“Look, Curly is just trying to say that” another female voice sighed and then lowered “by the looks of her, I don’t see her helping us out much either.”

Although Cherry still had little to no idea where the hell she was, what was going on, or who these people were; she knew they were talking about her. So she yet again tried to move. This time flinching her whole hand. 

“Neither did all of you! Hell, you came in here with piggy tales and a cups. Pony came in here acting high as a kite despite-“

“I said don’t bring him into this.”

“And you! You, Curly, you came in here with no damn sense of anything going on. You’re lucky you're alive.”

“Some leader you are if you’re lucky I’m alive.”

“YOU-“

“Guys! Look! Her arm moved!”

Maybe it was something about the yelling and how it made Cherry’s head throb immensely that finally made her make a movement that was big enough to have her consciousness realized. 

“It’s about damn time.”

And within seconds she felt the gentle touch, the same as the one that felt like just yesterday even though she knew that wasn’t true, upon her arm. Another timid finger pushing Cherry’s short scarlet hair out of her eyes. Letting her flutter them open. 

And she was yet again met with the most indescribable site. It was the girl from the alley. Sylvia. Looking down at her in a look that Cherry could only describe as victoriously and softly content. 

“You're awake” Sylvia hummed gently, still tracing her delicate fingers along Cherry’s face, her hair falling onto her chest. 

“I am?”

Sylvia chuckled lightly, “yes you are. Welcome.”

“Welcome?” Cherry’s voice came out just as disoriented and confused as she felt. 

“Welcome to the residence, Cherry Valance, I’m very glad you could make it.”

Sylvia looked different than Cherry could remember from the alley, even though her memories seemed to be coming in bits and pieces. 

Her hair was longer and she looked slightly more fatigued and exhausted, it made her wonder exactly how much time had passed. 

“How long have I been… asleep?” came out in a meer whisper. 

“Thirty four days” a slightly familiar voice growled out from the other side of the room, but Cherry wasn’t ready to move her head yet from the pain to see who was talking. But she got a good idea when Sylvia rolled her eyes. 

“That’s Curly Shepard. Ignore him. We all do” Sylvia smiled weakly “how are you feeling?”

“My head hurts like I have been shot.”

“God, I’ve been there, don’t miss that at all” the other female voice spoke up, rubbing the back of her skull. 

“That’s because of the wires. We took them out but you’ll still be a bit sore because you haven’t used your brain in a while” Sylvia informed Cherry. 

Wires? Thought Cherry. What hell is going on. 

“Yeah, like you use yours ever.”

Sylvia pursed her lips together and tightly squeezed her eyes shut “I swear I’m gonna kill that kid one day” she whispered so just Cherry could hear. 

“What’s going on?”

She sounded like a broken record, but who wouldn't be in her position? Waking up in a room nearly fully filled with complete strangers, only barely being able to remember the events that got you there, or even wherever the hell ‘there’ was. It felt like a dream. No, it felt like a nightmare. The most damn near realistic and painful nightmare anyone could be experiencing. 

“How long do you got?” the third and final voice rang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this when I was not fully there in the brain so let’s see if this is any good lmao


End file.
